The Chairman Vs. The Secretary

February 16, 1986|The Morning Call

Whatever else Interior Secretary Donald Hodel may do with his career in public or private life, he will be remembered for one spectacular episode - he fired a folk hero, Allentown's own Lido A. Iacocca. And although there is debate about the ethics involved and about who struck whom first, there is little or no question about the stupidity factor involved . . . it's mighty high.

Consider: Mr. Iacocca is in the final stages of a task he was asked to undertake some five years ago, raising from the private sector the nearly $300 million needed to save the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from total decay. To date, the man who is credited with patching and restoring the near- terminal jalopy that was Chrysler Corp., has guided this program with high- profile efficiency, raising some $230 million for that admirable project. Mr. Iacocca is, without argument, the most recognized and - debatably - respected spokesman for the normally gray world of American business. He is tough, obdurate, outspoken . . . and popular. His removal from one of two positions he held in conjunction with the statue restoration obviously will not sit well with a large segment of the American population. It was a politically inept move. One wonders whether it would have been made in a presidential election year.

His protagonist, the interior secretary, forced Mr. Iacocca out of his job as chairman of the advisory commission overseeing the actual restoration of these national museum pieces, citing the fear of a possible conflict of interest on Mr. Iacocca's part. Mr. Iacocca, however, snaps back that he is being given the bum's rush because he has told the National Park Service that he is unalterably opposed to plans to allow private enterprise to build a hotel and convention center on the Ellis Island site.

Rumors abound that White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan, with whom Mr. Iacocca clashed bitterly during Chrysler's time of fiscal travail, is behind the move. The White House denies that. But, surely, poor Mr. Hodel, unless he is incredibly naive, would not set about delivering a pink slip to the feisty, populist Mr. Iacocca without some strong support, however shadowy, behind him.

This scenario could be latter-day Gilbert and Sullivan farce, were it not for the worthy and stirring project that is in the cross fire. Neither side is pristine in this conflict - although Mr. Iacocca appears to be well ahead on points. But what must not be lost in the verbal gun smoke is the importance of this dual project to the millions of people in this country who have contributed nickels, quarters and many dollars to make the torch of Miss Liberty shine once again, as a fine and noble symbol of the United States of America.